In many sectors, field representatives are used to educate customers and potential customers on the products of manufacturers and service providers. In the course of their duties, sales representatives make site visits and build a relationship with the customers and potential customers in their assigned territory. Typically, field representatives are assigned specific customers and maintain records of their visits in accordance with any guidelines or requirements of the companies that they represent. The records of site visits can include details and have formats that vary widely among representatives and the companies they represent. The data collected by field representatives is typically aggregated in a centralized repository such as a database server so that the data can be analyzed. Additionally, the centralized repository commonly redistributes information or provides additional information, such as analysis of the data, to the field representatives. This data collection and distribution is typically performed using a client-database server architecture.
In a typical field-representative environment a field-representative is assigned a number of customers and can therefore see most, if not all, of the data associated with the assigned customers. Occasionally, the customers assigned to a field-representative can change. This change may occur because of the relocation of a field-representative to another geographic location, the relocation of a customer, or a redistribution of customers by a manager to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
Furthermore, a manager typically has control over all the data assigned to the field-representatives managed by the manager. Thus as the responsibility of the field-representatives change, the data controlled by the representatives' manager must also change. Additionally, promotions and other changes to an organization's structure can result in a change in functional requirements and control of data. The redistribution of data, control of data and functionality is collectively and/or individually referred to as “realignment.”
In some environments or fields, this realignment can occur on a quarterly basis, or even more frequently. Because current schemes for realigning data ownership can require client database downtime of several days, each realignment can be very costly for businesses because workflow is impeded. Alternatively, if the client databases and the system are not shutdown, but rather updated while the system is live, data loss and coverage issues can arise. For example, until every client is updated and realigned, a customer may be assigned to multiple field-representatives or no representatives at all.
The present invention addresses these deficiencies in the art and provides other improvements useful to the realignment and redistribution of database records in a client-database server environment.